Time To Fall
by xxxsophiexxx
Summary: "Come on it's the first day of school, I'm sure that people will have more interesting things to gossip about than the crazy and kind of suspicious circumstances surrounding your newly orphaned status." Rory Fell's entire life changed the night her mom died, now with the help of her best friend Caroline she's trying to move on, an effort made much harder by the new faces in town.
1. Chapter 1

In a dark overgrown forest, the pitter-patter of feet hitting the soft ground and deep labored breaths fill the air as a teenage girl, dressed in Pajama pants, a black tank top, and untied sneakers, runs frantically through the woods. The brunette stumbles repeatedly as she makes her way through the trees, her head turning in every direction as she searches for something. She falls to the ground as her untied shoelace catches and she trips. She has injured herself and it clearly hurts, but instead of stopping she looks around anxiously with a scared expression on her face before taking off again in a new direction.

Suddenly, a pained male scream fills the forest and the brunette runs towards the noise with renewed vigor as the scream morphs into a howl.

...

One Year Earlier

The same girl lays on her couch mindlessly watching TV.

She barely blinks as a middle-aged woman enters the house carrying grocery bags. "You know Rory, you've barely moved an inch since I left? It's summer shouldn't you be out doing something?" the woman asks as she makes her way into the house.

"That's the beauty of summer vacation Mom, I don't have to move off of this couch until the first day of school if I don't want to," she responded.

"Ah, but that's the flaw in your master plan, you do, especially when I tell you to come help me put away the groceries."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Rory sighed, "Wow what's with all the food you having a kegger and forgot to mention it?"

"You're brother called, he's coming to stay for the weekend." She stated as began loading items in the fridge.

"Peter's coming home?" Rory asked as excitement overtook her demeanor.

"And he's bringing his new girlfriend."

"Oooo, sounds serious. She have a name?"

"I think he might of said Veronica, I don't remember exactly. I hope you didn't have plans tonight. I invited Meredith and Lex over, I figured we could have a family dinner. You can invite someone too if you want."

"I was going to swing by the Gilbert's and check up on Elena and Jeremy. But I suppose I can go after if that's okay?"

"Oh, of course. I'll make extra food and you can bring it over with you."

"Thanks Mom," she said as the doorbell rang. "Whoa somebody's early," she muttered as she made her way to the door. She grinned from ear to ear upon seeing who was on the other side and quickly ushered them in.

A good-looking brunette boy in his early twenties entered with a pretty dark-skinned girl in her late teens on his arm.

Rory immediately pulls the boy into a hug as he responds in kind. As they pull away he declares, "Hey little lion, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Veronique. Veronique this is my little sister, Rory."

...

Three Months Later

_For over a century, I have lived in secret… Hiding in the shadows, alone in the world. _

_Until now. _

_I am a vampire. And this is my story…_

_...  
_

In a dark room, the shrill beep from an alarm goes off - the time reads 7:00 AM.

A hand reaches out from a mass of covers and turns it off. Rory outwardly groans before climbing out of bed. Still in the dark she changes into form-fitting black jeans and a black tank top. She turns on a light and begins to search the room for something.

After a couple minutes of tearing the room apart, she picks up a sweatshirt off the ground to reveal a black converse sneaker.

She jumps around on one foot as she pulls on the shoe and knocks a bookcase before she can right herself. A framed picture falls to the ground. She picks up the photo of the slightly younger version of herself in a bright sundress smiling and standing between Peter and their mother the two's arms wrapped around her and genuine grins on their faces.

After staring at it for a moment she places it back on the shelf and rights the photo next to it. This one features a much younger Rory laughing with her arm wrapped around a middle-aged man.

Walking away from it she walks away from the bookcase and continues searching until she finds the other shoe. Now fully dressed she begins to put her make up on as she tries to not think about how much she is dreading the day.

Once finished with her make up she moves on to straightening her hair. As she puts on the finishing touches her phone begins to ring to the sound of Disney's Heigh- Ho coming from a caller ID reading "Happy."

She grabs the phone and presses answer but before she has a chance to speak the cheerful voice of Caroline Forbes comes blaring out of the speaker phone. "Hey so I just pulled up. I'm coming in for like a second to say hello to the rest of the family, but then we HAVE to go! I mean like SERIOUSLY! I refuse to be late on the first day of School, do you have any idea how that would look," just then the doorbell rings downstairs, "I mean that just what I need, for my mom to finally remember I exist just so she can yell at… Hey Peter, how are you? Are you ok? "

"Hey I'll let you guys catch up. Don't worry I'm almost done, I'll be right down." Said Rory taking advantage of the moment the to finally get a word in.

"Fine, but be quick I refuse to be late," responded Caroline in a no-nonsense tone.

"I'll be down in a second, I swear!" she laughingly replied.

"I'm serious, Aurora Judith Fell get your ass in gear!" Caroline mock shouted into the phone before promptly hanging up and going back to talking to Peter as the made their way into the house.

Rory let out an exasperated sigh before checking herself once in the mirror. Satisfied with what she saw she pulled on a black blazer with the sleeves rolled up and threw her messenger bag over her shoulder as she rushed down the stairs to join a laughing Caroline and Peter in the kitchen.

As soon as she entered the room she was handed a piece of toast with jam from Peter. Upon seeing her response of simply starring at it with a confused look he said, "come on eat up I don't need to lose custody of you simply because you refused to eat a balanced breakfast."

"You know a balanced breakfast IS a crucial part of any growing teens diet," a groggy Meredith stated as she came into the kitchen in her pajamas.

"Whatever you say Doc," Rory replied as she took a bite.

...

Across town, Stefan Salvatore stood atop the mossy roof of his house. He can't help staring out ahead of him, through the overgrown branches of the trees in the surrounding woods, at the sun rising over the only real home he's ever had.

_I shouldn't have come home. I know the risk. But I had no choice. I have to know her._

_...  
_

Elena Gilbert, a pretty brunette with olive skin, brown eyes, and a kind smile, was riding toward school in the passenger seat of her best friend's car. Bonnie Bennett, a beautiful, dark skinned girl with long brown hair and compassionate demeanor, was at the wheel.

"So… Grams is telling me I'm psychic," Bonnie said, trying anything to distract her best friend from her pained memories. Brows furrowed, she explained, "Our ancestors were from SALEM, witches and all that, I know, crazy," she said, sharing a look with Elena. "But she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already!" she laughed.

Giving a polite but unnatural smile, Elena turned her gaze outside the car window at the passing cemetery.

Noticing Elena's shift in focus and resolving to try harder in her mission to distract, Bonnie continues, "But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger!" She raised a finger off the steering wheel to emphasize her point. "And I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands…" Looking over, she realized her attempts were floundering and that her best friend was off in her own world. Realizing that subtlety wasn't proving to be the most effective method she exclaimed, "Elena!"

Jumping, the brunette turned back to her, expression wide.

Bonnie forced a laugh, "Back in the car."

Shaking her head, she said, "I did it again, didn't I?" She sighed. "I—I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were telling me that..."

"That… I'm psychic now," she said with regal drama.

"Right. Okay," she returned skeptically. "Then predict something. About me."

Smiling, as she finally felt as if she was making a dent in her friends mood, she blew out a breath. She glanced over at Elena and began, "I see—"

Suddenly, something smashed into the windshield, causing them to scare. Inhaling a quick breath, Bonnie slammed her foot on the brake and swerved, sending the car careening towards the curb, tires squealing in protest before they finally came to a halt.

Elena appeared to barely be holding herself together. She was clinging desperately to the dashboard, her mouth hanging open, while she breathed in and out heavily.

"What was that?!" Bonnie's head slumped back in shock. "Oh, my God!"

Realizing they were okay and that the immediate danger was over, Elena relaxed, leaning back against the headrest and letting out a deep breath.

Sitting forward again, Bonnie looked over at Elena, worried, "Elena, are you ok?"

"It's okay." She nodded. "I'm fine."

"It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere," she apologized.

"Really, I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life," she assured, nodding.

Bonnie watched her for a moment before letting out a breath. She smiled encouragingly, griping Elena's hand. "I predict this year is going to be kick ass."

Elena smiled back at her, nodding as if she almost believed her.

"And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you are going to be _beyond_ happy," she said with a hopeful grin.

Elena did her best to mirror the gesture, even if they both knew it was fake.

...

"First day of Junior Year! Aren't you excited!?" asked a bouncing Caroline maneuvering the steering wheel of her car for a sharp turn as she drove the girls to school.

"No offense, but there are literally a million other places I would rather go today than to a building filled with people giving me the pity stare while talking behind my back. Sorry Care-Bear, but excited doesn't really describe my current mood."

"Come on it's the first day of school, people haven't seen each other in months, I'm sure that they will have more interesting things to gossip about than the crazy and kind of suspicious circumstances surrounding your newly orphaned status." Caroline quickly replied before a look of realization followed by horror came over her face and she quickly tried to backtrack. "And by kind of suspicious I don't mean… I simply meant… I just mean, you're not even sure about what exactly went down that night. So how can anybody else be… you know… I'm so sorry Row… I'm going to shut up now please."

Rory simply gives a light laugh and happily responds, "Don't worry Care, I know what you meant and you don't need to apologize that actually succeeded in making me feel better about the day ahead."

Caroline laughs and claps her hands together in excitement exclaiming, "Yay, I just know today, no this year, is going to be the best ever. And you can quote me on that!" Still smiling she pulls the car into a parking space. "Now, lets go be kick-ass!" she states authoritatively with a mock serious face.

Rory responds with a similar face and a salute before both girls break out laughing, get out of the car, and start heading towards the school.

___Authors Note:_

_Hey so this is an idea that's been poking around my head for a little while. Just so you know it's going to be rather AU. For instance, I think Caroline wouldn't have been so insecure season 1 if there was at least one person that made her feel wanted. In a similar vein I think if Tyler had people who cared about him he wouldn't have been such a dick, so sorry if any of the characters seem a little OOC. I'm not sure if this story is worth continuing or if I'm going in a direction with it that feels right and makes sense so please let me know what you think or any advice you have. Thank you, it would be greatly appreciated. _

_**Updated AN: I decided I wanted the story to be more expansive so I'm going to be including **__my own rehashing _of scenes from the show that I feel are integral to my stories plot. So expect a few changes to the already added chapters.  


_XOXO_

_LILY_


	2. Chapter 2

The field in front of the school was filled with people catching up and putting off going inside. As the girls made their way through the throngs of people, Rory couldn't help thinking that summer had slipped by too fast. She wasn't ready to deal with everyone, but she knew she had no choice. So she attempted to bolster her spirits by soaking in Caroline's excitement as she assured her they'd have a great year. Rory believed her since she sincerely doubted anything could happen to make it seem worse than last year.

In the spring, Elena and Jeremy had lost her parents in a terrible car accident and then a little over a month later her own mother had been taken from her. She hadn't been able to face Elena or Jeremy since they'd come to the funeral. She'd claimed to Caroline that it was simply because she hadn't wanted to interact with anyone, besides she'd had enough on her plate what with the custody issues. But the truth was whenever she saw either of them she'd instantly been reminded of her own loss moreover she knew she couldn't lie to them the way she could everyone else. They'd know she wasn't fine because they understood exactly what she was going through; in fact she was pretty sure Elena was avoiding her for similar reasons, that's how well they understood. Therefore, she'd barely seen Bonnie all summer as she'd rarely left Elena's side. Suffice to say things between the group of friends had been rocky at best.

Then again it wasn't that she was just avoiding Elena, she'd been distant with everyone and nobody was sure how to help her or make her feel better, that's not to say Caroline hadn't tried her hardest. And really, she'd appreciated the efforts considering so many other so called friends had given her up as a lost cause withing a few weeks.

Taking a deep breath and pushing all her sad thoughts out of her head, she walked up the cement path leading to the front doors of the high school and made her way inside. Pasting on her most convincing smile and doing her best to convince everybody, including herself, that she was fine.

Since Caroline was on just about every committee the school, and town, had to offer, she was always busy. And since she hated to be alone she was often dragging Rory along and forcing her to participate. Therefore, the girls were well known by most people, and especially those who worked on the same committees as they did. So it was no surprise, especially considering everything that went down this summer, that as they made her way through the halls she was greeted with a number of waves and pitying smiles and 'Hi Caroline! How are you doing Rory?' Nearly none of those people, however, were what Rory would call friends.

In fact, she would really only call about five people in the entire school her real friends and she was kind of avoiding three of them. Sadly, it wasn't long before she spotted two of the three, Bonnie and Elena, standing at Elena's locker and talking.

Her brow knotted as she quickly tried to come up with an excuse to avoid them just a little bit longer as she realized Caroline was trying to pull her over to them. She realized she'd been saved as she spotted Tyler talking to Matt a few lockers down.

"Hey Care, you go ahead I really need to talk to Ty before the bell rings. You know so we can compare schedules," she said as she quickly pulled her arm from Caroline's grasp.

Caroline gave her a look letting her know she easily recognized that their was a reason she wanted to go talk to Tyler, but it had nothing to do with schedules and everything to do with the fact that he was currently standing next to the one person Elena wanted to avoid most in the school. Luckily, she let it go with just the look and an assurance that she would come meet her over there when she was done with Elena and Bonnie. With that Caroline rushed across the hall. Rory understood her hurry, she'd spent most of the summer checking up on her it must have been too long since she'd seen them or had a chance to really talk. Rory watched their interaction before she made her way over to Tyler and Matt.

"Elena," Caroline said, wrapping her in a hug. "Oh. My god!" She squeezed. "How are you?"

Elena patted her shoulder as they hugged.

"Ugh." She stepped back, her hands still on the girl's shoulders. "It's so…" She nodded quickly, looking her face over worriedly, "good to see you." She drew her hands back and tugged at her fingers before turning to Bonnie expectantly. "How is she? Is she good?"

Smiling, amused, Elena said, "Caroline. I'm right here."

Caroline offered a sympathetic smile back, but Rory was pretty sure that even she recognized that after everything that had happened there was just no way that Elena was okay and only Bonnie would give her the real scoop.

Readjusting her purse, Elena assured her, "And I'm fine." She grinned, nodding assuredly. "Thank you."

Caroline's nose wrinkled, her brow furrowed. "Really?"

"Yes." She raised her eyebrows for emphasis before shaking her head. "Much better."

"Ugh," Caroline visibly scoffed, clearly not believing her, and dragged her into another hug. "You poor thing."

"I'm Okay, Caroline." Elena replied unable to mask her face enough to show that she obviously wasn't. Recognizing that it was a look she had most likely adopted numerous times over the last few months and unwilling to watch anymore lest she be dragged into some kind of group hug, Rory turned quickly to make her escape.

In her haste, she failed to see the good-looking teenage boy until she collided with him ricocheting off of him and toppling towards the ground. Thankfully, however, she never made it that far and instead strong arms gripped her closely to him in an effort to keep her steady.

"You okay?" he asked, eyes darting over her face.

"Uh, yeah." She nodded and reached out hesitantly before patting his chest. "I'm sorry, it was my fault. Are YOU okay?"

He laughed, ducking his head a little, and stood upright, helping her to do the same. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you didn't do any permanent damage."

She blew out a sigh. "Well, I'm still sorry." Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and then stepped back from him. Thrusting out a hand, she introduced herself, "I'm Rory."

He glanced at her hand briefly before taking it, gripping it lightly, and shaking it slowly. "Stefan," he told her. He opened his mouth again clearly about to continue the conversation when she turned away from the green-eyed boy upon hearing someone call out her name.

Her eyes searched the crowded hallway only to see Tyler waving her over frantically while making vivid pointing motions at his schedule with a panicked look on his face. Stepping away from Stefan with a light laugh she made to excuse herself, "Um sorry, but I have to go. I think it might be a friend emergency."

"Yeah don't worry about it I, uh… I still have to register, so…" He waved a hand vaguely.

"Oh, of course. Um, do you know where the office is or…?"

"Yeah, it's okay." He took a step to the left. "But, I'll see you around, maybe?"

"Uh-huh, sure." She said grinning a quinine smile for the first time in months.

"It was nice meeting you, Rory."

She swallowed tightly, feeling as if the year might not be as terrible as she thought it would be this morning. "You too, Stefan."

...

Caroline sighed as she let Elena go again, stepping back and taking a deep breath, clasping her hands and pasting on the most carefree smile she could manage. "See you guys later?"

"Okay," they agreed, nodding.

Cheerfully, she tapped her fingers together in a light clap, and then walked off, letting her carefully constructed mask slip slightly as she went.

Was that too melodramatic? She didn't mean to sound insincere. She really did worry about Elena. She just wasn't very good at being comforting. Obviously or she wouldn't have had to drag Rory kicking and screaming in to sharing even a tiniest bit of her feelings. She didn't want her friends to think that she didn't care, because she did. A lot. She loved Elena, Bonnie, and Rory like sisters, especially since she didn't have any real ones of her own. But she knew that in their little group of friends, she was always going to be left out by Elena and Bonnie. She knew it wasn't intentional it's was just a universal fact Elena and Bonnie were the real best friends and Caroline was more like a tag-along. Luckily, Rory was more than happy to make up for it since she always picked Caroline first. And she had ever since they were children and their parents dragged them to 'play-dates' while they discussed town business. That's why even though they were complete opposites she knew they accepted each other fully, despite any tendencies Caroline may have had to always say and do the wrong thing.

She sighed, her shoulders slumping for a second before smiling a legitimate smile as she made her way over to Rory,Tyler, and Matt as they compared schedules and joked around.

_Authors Note: _

_Hey, so I'm still not sure __if this story is worth continuing or if I'm going in a direction with it that feels right. However, I had the idea for this chapter in my head and I figured I'd just go ahead and get it out. Just for anyone who's wondering in my head Rory's played by Shelley Hennig, Peter's played by Stephen Amell, Veronique will be played by Zoe Kravitz, and Lex, another Oringinal Character I haven't introduced yet but who will play a important part in the story, will be played by Christopher Egan._

_XOXO_

_LILY_


	3. Chapter 3

_Authors Note: _

_Hey, so I really appreciate the feedback I've been getting from this story. I was really excited to see the favorites and the follows. And you guys don't know how much the reviews have helped motivate me to write. Just so you know I added a few scenes to the chapters I'd already written because I decided to make the narrative more well-rounded. So if you've already read the previous chapters I'd suggest you go back and read the new scenes for this chapter and chapter 1. _

_XOXO_

_LILY_

...

Stefan was still smiling to himself as he stepped into the office, moving toward the desk.

Rory had been friendly and sweet, if not a little reserved. She was also exquisite. He'd failed to noticed how beautiful her face became when she smiled. He'd never been so close to her before he'd only seen her from a distance except for that night and she hadn't done much smiling then. From a distance she could hide her sorrow so much better, he hadn't even noticed how there seemed to be something broken about her. Something that he wanted desperately to protect.

He sighed to himself before turning his attention to the secretary and informing her of why he was there.

"Your records are incomplete," she said, staring down at the papers he'd brought in with him. "You're missing immunization records." She paused, surprised, and looked up at him, "And we do insist on transcripts." She shook her head at him and got out her pen to write something.

"Please, look again." He caught her eyes and held her gaze. "I'm sure everything you need is there."

She stared at him, her once annoyed expression relaxing as the compulsion took affect. Finally, after a few seconds, her eyes fell back to the papers. "Well you're right," she said. She smiled up at him. "So it is."

He'd gotten better at compulsion over the years but it didn't always work as well as he always needed it to. But that had seemed to work all right and they probably wouldn't check again, so it would have to do. The secretary got to work adding him to the system and smoothing out the details while he waited patiently.

He felt a little nervous. He hadn't fully worked out the details surrounding his starting high school. When he'd come to Mystic Falls initially he'd only come for a visit when he managed to spot Elena Gilbert. His first instinct had been to ignore the dying man and let her drown in that car. He'd been sure it was somehow Katherine come back from the dead to wreck more havoc on his life. Even after he'd saved her and realized she was in fact human, a part of him still wanted nothing more than to rip the poor girl's heart out.

She looked exactly like Katherine. Not a detail was different. The hair, the doe-like eyes, the olive skin, she was Katherine's exact double. He'd have sworn they were twins if it weren't for the 500-year age difference. So he'd dug deeper; he'd investigated her and the entire town trying to figure out why it was she looked like the evil bitch of a vampire who'd ruined his life some 150 years ago.

When he saw Rory, it was by chance. He'd been investigating Elena and watched as all the well-wishers brought over their casseroles and condolences. One group stuck out simply by the frequency of their visits. It had been strange to see that so many teens baring names of the founding families were all such close friends, but it made sense once he'd thought about it. He'd always suspected the council had never truly disbanded, why wouldn't they set their children up in a group. They'd probably used the children's play dates as covers for their meetings. Though if he was being honest he hadn't thought about it, at least not initially. Truthfully he'd never given any of them too much consideration, even her, at least not until that night.

Despite watching her from afar, learning as much as he could about her life, he hadn't met her until that morning. Until she walked into him in her haste to avoid Elena. He'd noticed she'd been avoiding both Gilberts all summer but he'd never seen the fact as such a blessing before.

The moment they had touched he was condemned, all he could do was stare at her, take all of her in. Being so close, breathing her in, it was different from all the time he'd spent at a distance. It was so much better.

When he left the office, class schedule in hand, he started down the hall, scanning the crowds for the only two faces he cared enough to look for. He was still wondering if befriending Elena would be helpful. He needed to know what her ties to Katherine were, but that didn't mean he could handle spending too much time with her.

He looked around the busy hallway, hopelessly searching, but he could tell Rory had left the vicinity already.

He wanted to search her out, but a part of him knew he would be best off waiting, until then he would distract himself with some information gathering as he saw a perfect opportunity ahead.

He could hear Elena's voice as she argued in the bathroom with her brother over his drug use, warning him she would be on his case to ruin his high every time. Listening to how much she seemed to care about the boy allowed him to remember that she was not Katherine. She had never cared about anyone but herself and how others fate affected her; Elena was clearly different in that aspect.

Holding on to that thought, Stefan timed it so when she stepped out of the men's washroom he was in her way.

She bounced off of him, stumbling back a step, and then staring up at him with a look of shock. She let out a sigh, her brows arching slightly before they furrowed; she looked at him in wonderment unable to move.

"Uh, pardon me," he offered before glancing past her shoulder. He made sure to crease his eyebrows in order to sell his confusion. "Is this the… men's room?" he asked, motioning behind her.

Mouth falling open, she looked back at the door. "Yes. Um." She shook her head. "I was just, um…"

He watched her, trying his best to hide his amusement at her flustered state.

"I was just—" She sighed, shaking her head slightly. She offered an embarrassed laugh. "It's a long story. Just…"

He smiled reassuringly.

She smiled back, still unable to form proper thoughts.

Clearly deciding to give up on rational conversation, she moved to walk past him and he stepped out of the way to let her go.

...

"So, I have excellent news!" announced an excited Caroline as she bounced into Biology, dumped her oversized bag on the table, and pulled up a chair to join a seated Rory.

Chuckling at her friends behavior, Rory responded dutifully with her most convincing "Ooo, really? Do tell!"

"Yes! You and the Gilberts are no longer the only thing anybody's talking about."

"But… You said… I thought people had more interesting things to gossip about than, and I quote, 'the crazy, and kind of suspicious, circumstances surrounding my newly orphaned status," scoffed Rory.

"Yes… well… I lied! Hey, don't look at me like that! I told you I have excellent news!"

"Ooo, please share! I'm waiting with bated breath over here," Rory sarcastically responded.

"Well, if you're going to be like that…" she said pausing for dramatic effect before rolling her eyes, " Ok, so there is… wait for it… wait for it… a new student! A good-looking new student!"

"Oh, is that all? I thought you had excellent news?" she replied hardly impressed.

"Hello, this is excellent! All anyone can talk about is the new mysterious hottie. Why are you not more excited? He really is hot and, get this, his name is…"

"Stefan. Yeah, I know I sort of ran into him earlier. And I mean literally ran into him."

Caroline pouted, "You did, really? Where was I? Did you guys connect or something? Because I swear you can totally have dibs if you want. Although I did think he was really good-looking, and with all my bad luck in the boy department, I was hoping he could be just the change I needed. But, it's totally fine if you want him. I mean you two would look really cute together. Plus, you've both got that tortured soul thing going. Though I don't mean to say that what you've got going on is like a thing, it's just…"

"Don't worry so much Care! We talked for like a second. Besides, with everything going on in my life right now, I hardly need to deal with boy drama as well. You can totally have dibs," she interrupted though she wasn't entirely who she was trying to convince Caroline or herself.

"Are you sure? Cause I DON'T want to put bros before hoes."

"Yeah, I'm sure!" she replied as her eyes locked on the brooding boy as he entered the classroom, "In fact…. HEY STEFAN! OVER HERE."

….

Stefan was distracted as he entered the biology lab. He didn't know what to do about Elena, the girl seemed to be unaware of the supernatural but there was no way her resemblance to Katherine was a coincidence. He knew he'd have to keep an eye on her, but he wasn't sure just waiting for all hell to break loose was the best idea. Needless to say he was surprised when he heard someone calling out his name.

He quickly looked around and spotted Rory waving him over. Stefan couldn't believe his luck, he'd been sure he'd have to seek her out and 'accidentally' run into her again. Smiling he walked over and joined her and another girl. He recognized her, Caroline Forbes, she'd shown up several times in his investigating what with her self proclaimed position as the head of the 'Cheer up the Fell's' committee.

"Hey Stefan! I'm Rory, we met this morning remember?"

"Of course, how could I forget the girl who nearly decapitated me?" He couldn't believe she thought he'd have forgotten, he made a quick note to eventually make her realize how impossible they idea was. For now though he had to work on making a good impression. He aimed his best smile at both her and her friend. "So who's your friend?"

At that she grinned at him. Though after everything he'd seen her go through over the summer he didn't know how she so easily managed it.

"Stefan this is Caroline Forbes. Caroline this is Stefan… oh I'm sorry I don't know your last name."

"Salvatore," he replied as he reached out his hand to quickly shake the blushing girls hand.

"Salvatore, really? As in Zach Salvatore?" Rory asked

"Yeah, he's my Uncle. You know him?"

"Um yeah, he was a friend of my fathers." She says quietly her smile slipping.

"Was?" Stefan asks genuinely curious. From what he'd seen this summer, her father was already out of the picture by the time everything went down. He was curious as to why he'd never been suggested as a guardian considering there had been so much debate on whether Peter Fell was up to the task.

"He died five years ago, cancer."

"I'm so sorry," he replied truthfully.

Rory responded with a tight smile as an awkward silence set in. Shrugging as if visibly shaking the conversation off, Rory placed a fake smile on her face. "We have gotten far too off topic. You know, I bet your wondering why I called you over here in the first place."

"I was a little curious," he said smiling at her bluntness.

"Well you're new so you probably don't know anybody, right?"

"Well, not besides you two."

"Well lucky you! Because we have to pair up in Groups of two for lab partners and we know for a fact that our friend Tyler is in this class. And I would hate for somebody to have to be the odd man out," she explained, "You don't mind pairing up with one of us do you?"

"Of course not, I'd be more than happy to help you guys out," he answered thrilled with his fortune yet again. It appeared getting in her good graces was going to be easier than he thought.

"Great! I'm sure you and Care will work great together!" she explained excitedly. He tried to maintain an easygoing attitude in order to hide the fact that her words had effectively killed his good mood.

"So, you'll be working with Tyler then?"

"Yeah, he made me promise this morning as soon as we realized we had it together. Speaking of which, howdy partner." She immediately went about unloading her books and greeting the newcomer.

He was so shocked by the sudden turn of events that he only barely caught the look the two girls shared. As realization dawned he hardly noticed as Caroline scooped up her bag and grabbed his arm pulling him over to an empty table, all the while chatting away about how much fun she was sure they would have together.

From what he'd seen this summer Caroline was Rory's best friend and one of the few people's whose opinions she seemed to value. He wasn't entirely sure why since on the surface the two girls couldn't be more different, but they seemed pretty devoted to one another so he knew if he wanted any chance with Rory he'd have to find a way to nip Caroline's little crush in the bud without losing her approval. The last thing he need was for Rory to write him off in some show of loyalty to her friend. No, he'd have to be smart about this. He needed her to let him in. He needed to know her. He'd saved her life once he wasn't going to let that go to waste and leave her to fend for herself now. Not when he knew she was in more danger than ever.

…

"So Care and the new guy, huh? When did that happen?" Tyler asked curiously.

"Just now, they'd be cute together don't you think?"

"Um I guess, but… I thought you kind of liked him. I mean you couldn't stop smiling this morning and you barely said two words to each other," Tyler said carefully.

"I was smiling because you and Matt are ridiculous, not because a cute boy smiled at me. Besides as I told Care, my life is too insane to add boy drama to the mix. Anyways since when are you so invested in my love life?"

"Whoa there tiger! I was only trying to make sure you were okay. Besides I'd hate to have to break up a cat-fight between my girls," he shrugged.

"YOUR girls really?" she asked indignantly. Glaring briefly before shaking her head and breaking into a laugh. "Remind me again why I keep you around?"

"My Adonis-like looks, obviously," he replied with a giant grin on his face.


End file.
